Late Runs Costly as Baseball Falls to Elon and UNC-Greensboro

Scoring rallies proved unfruitful for the Princeton baseball team, as they were unable to come away with a win at Elon or UNC-Greensboro Wednesday. The Tigers’ (1-13) suffered a 12-11 defeat at Elon, before conceding the lead in the eighth to UNCG and falling 9-7.

Princeton concludes the non-conference portion of the schedule this weekend with a four-game series at Navy.

After struggling to get its offense going the night before at No. 1 North Carolina, Princeton’s provided immediate run support for its starting pitcher Tyler Foote. RBI at-bats from Steve Harrington, Mike Ford and Ryan Albert, along with an Elon fielding error positioned the Tigers with a 3-0 lead in the first.

Like many of its games this season, Princeton again saw its lead eroded in a single inning, this time going down 4-3 the following frame.

The Phoenix appeared to be in complete control, adding six more runs in the third through seventh innings and limiting the Tigers to only three hits.

A three-run RBI single from Ford provided new life for Princeton in the eighth and made it an 11-6 ballgame. He finished going 2-for-5 with five RBI.

Princeton extended its scoring rally to fight back into the game, 11-11, tallying five runs on four hits and two Elon errors in the top of the ninth.

The late run was not rewarded and the Phoenix scored the game-winner on a walk-off RBI single. It was the sixth one-run game the Tigers have lost this season.

Game Two

It was like déjà vu in the latter game. The Tigers were again unable to protect their lead and suffered a 9-7 loss to UNC-Greensboro to close out the day.

Freshman Cameron Mingo earned his first career start, tossing 6.0 innings and three strikeouts. He scattered nine hits and allowed two runs with only one earned during his outing. It was a rookie battery for the Tigers, as Andres Larramendi made his career debut behind the mound.

Will Davis hit his first career home run to leadoff the fifth and tie the game. Princeton rallied past Davis’ long ball and added three more runs to go up 4-1.

The multi-run scoring output went into the sixth and the Tigers’ looked poised to maintain the game’s momentum with a 7-2 lead.

The turning point was when Ray Crawford led off the seventh with a triple and was scored on a sacrifice fly during UNCG’s next at-bat. The Spartans managed to tack on three runs on three hits and a Tiger error to get back into the game, 7-5.

Princeton was unable to respond and add additional run support in the eighth and ninth innings, while the home side added four more runs to retake control - this time for good.